This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out.

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Do you live in one of the most dangerous cities in Texas?

We all watch the news and see reports on Facebook of the latest crimes that happen in our hometowns. But it can be hard to tell at a big picture level how dangerous our town actually is.

No one wants to feel unsafe, and statistically speaking, odds are that where you live is most likely relatively safe. In order to help the good people of Texas — and anyone looking to move to Texas — know just how close they are to danger, we took data from the annual FBI report and did some serious analysis.

The data shows that these ten cities are currently the most dangerous in the Lone Star State:

Why did Bellmead take the top spot? For the answer to this question and a detailed explanation of the data and analysis we used in creating this ranking, read on. Or learn more about the safest places in Texas.

1. Bellmead

Population: 10,212Rank Last Year: 2 (Up 1)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,488Property Crimes Per 100k: 7,265
Bellmead earns the top spot on this list mostly by having a terrible rate of property crime, with residents facing a ridiculously high 1 in 13.8 chance of being the victim of a property crime in 2016.

That means that, statistically, almost every neighborhood in Bellmead has at least one resident who’s the victim of theft or arson each year.

Don’t let the 2nd place ranking for violence fool you either — for every 67 residents in Bellmead, there was 1 instance of violent crime in 2016, which is makes violence pretty darn common in Bellmead.

2. Palmview

Population: 5,763 Rank Last Year: 5 (Up 3)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,440Property Crimes Per 100k: 5,205
Palmview is the smallest city to make this list, but don’t let that fool you — the city is also one of the most violent in the state.

Palmview residents had a 1 in 69 chance of being the victim of a violent crime in 2016.

The only reason Palmview is so low on this list is because it has the lowest frequency of property crime (about 1 per 300 residents in 2016) of any city on this list.

3. Cleveland

Population: 7,893Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 2)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 899Property Crimes Per 100k: 5,637
Cleveland, located in Liberty County, is the 3rd most dangerous and 13th most violent city in Texas.

Violent crime has remained high from 2014-16, during which time property crime fell by only small amounts.

4. Humble

Population: 15,770Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 1)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 767Property Crimes Per 100k: 9,936
Tiny Humble, the smallest city by far in our top 20, is where muggers go to thrive. There were the 1st-most robberies per capita in the entire state in 2016 here.

Humble borders the George Bush International Airport to the east. Is it a coincidence that so many robberies take place so close to a major airport?

5. Lubbock

Population: 252,900Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 2)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,083Property Crimes Per 100k: 5,006
A bigger city in Texas, Lubbock finds itself as the 5th most dangerous city in Texas.

Lubbock has plenty of both types of crime — violent crime now sits at 7th worst in Texas while property crime is 21st worst.

6. Alamo

Source: Public domain

Population: 19,409Rank Last Year: 6 (No Change)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 855Property Crimes Per 100k: 5,219
Located just a stone’s throw from Weslaco on Interstate 2 lies Alamo. Crime has steadily remained a real concern here since 2011. Currently, 1 out of 116 residents has the chance of being the victim of a violent crime here.

Additionally, Alamo is the 15th-highest city in terms of thefts in the state of Texas.

7. Donna

Source: Public domain

Population: 16,672Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 3)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,073Property Crimes Per 100k: 4,834
Continuing the trend of this area of the state of Texas being a hotbed of danger, Donna, located along Interstate 2, is one of the places to avoid. Residents in Donna have a 1 in 20.7 chance of being the victim of a car theft or home invasion robbery.

The average American has 338 contacts on Facebook. To put that into perspective, more than 20 people you’re friends with would have been robbed last year if all of them lived in Donna, Texas.

8. Texarkana

Population: 37,442Rank Last Year: 8 (No Change)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 838Property Crimes Per 100k: 5,007
No surprises here that Texarkana ranked so high on the list, because we ran a study on the most dangerous cities in Arkansas, and Texarkana, Arkansas was really high on that list.

Residents in Texarkana have a 1 in 20.0 chance of being the victim of a property crime, meaning a car theft, home break-in or fraud. However, crime in Texarkana has been steadily declining over the last few years, which is a good thing,

9. La Marque

Population: 16,191Rank Last Year: N/AViolent Crimes Per 100k: 759Property Crimes Per 100k: 5,218
A city in Galveston County, La Marque has seen crime become a problem over the last decade.

Perhaps that has something to do with the high rate of violent crime, with residents facing a 1 in 131 chance of being the victim of violence in 2016.

On the bright side, instances of property crime fell during this time period.

10. Beaumont

Source: Public domain

Population: 118,283Rank Last Year: 16 (Up 6)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 1,112Property Crimes Per 100k: 4,282
Beaumont is, essentially the second-most dangerous place in the state of Texas for violent crimes. Only tiny Raymondville, population 11,654, inland from South Padre Island, is statistically, more dangerous than Beaumont.

Residents in Beaumont have a staggering 1 in 90 chance of being assaulted, raped or killed every year. Yikes. And it seems to be climbing quickly in Beaumont over the last few years as well.

Locking It All Up In Texas

The latest FBI crime data shows that Bellmead ranks as the most dangerous city in Texas for 2018.

However, there will be new data coming out later this year. At that point we can revisit Bellmead’s status — that is if they haven’t beaten us all up already.

What a joke. Humble? Really? I’ve lived here my whole life and I promise you, there are plenty of areas in Texas and particularly along my daily commute to Houston where I wouldn’t walk down the street without my gun, but Humble is simply not one of them.

I mean I live in the kenswick subdivision right along 1960 and 5 minutes away from 59 and you don’t wanna walk alone at night sometimes 3 kids were shot across lee rd and two of my homeboys dead and gone in the past year from shootings don’t think its not bad because its nicer where you stay humble isn’t that humble its turning into a hood

I’ve lived in of near enough of these towns to think this is a pretty good list. My theory? The more cheap rental property there is in an area, the higher the crime rate. It’s certainly true of my home town, Gainesville. It used to be a pretty great place, but now it’s very run down and there are quite a few people who have many rent houses that are pretty cheap. Whereas Southlake and Grapevine are expensive places to live, and don’t really have a lot of rentals, except for high end apartments.

Based on the comments, people didn’t read the methodology. It’s a statistical analysis based on reports of violent crimes and property crimes that are compiled by the FBI from local police reports. It’s not a subjective analysis (perceived safety–which most commenters want), but a statistical analysis based on the rates of actual violent and property crime per capita.

However, my hometown, Weslaco, is both statistically and subjectively quite a risky place to live.

I live between Weslaco and Donna and many that live here like me would disagree but crime in the past couple of years I feel has gone up. I don’t know if it’s due to the fact that we live so close to the border and crime just across in Mexico has increased in Cartel violence and it’s spilling over. I feel very unsafe where I live and my family and I do feel it’s time to move further north; not too close to the border. Relative warm weather all year round here makes it a nice place to live but I wonder how much of that warm/hot weather also contributes to the violence.

Naw you get out Humble is gettin bad shit the population is now 42.6% Hispanic because hello property value and unemployment are at an all time high trust me i saw my friend shot for standing in the street in front from the wrong house aand I live in Wick and don’t think because you been here before you know how life is here 4 years ago two streets over a bitch stabbed her mother 74 times with a butcher knife im friends with everyone involved Humble is getting more violent crime now days don’t believe me walk down my streets at night you’d probably get robbed at gun point by some 13 yr olders

I worked for Dallas PD as well as Palestine PD. I can tell you first hand that the violent crime rate is way higher in Palestine. Another unknown fact is less than 10% of the Officers that work there are from Palestine. Most of the local applicants cant pass a background investigation. They dont call it the “Dogwood Hood” for nothing.

Me and my family are planning a trip to Texas to research my grandmothers past. All we know about her is where she was raised and her parents names but everything else is a total mystery. My grandmother NEVER talked about her past or told us anything about her family (not even my mother knows anything about her) if we asked her she would get upset and tell us there is no family to talk about so stop asking. My grandma passed away about 13 years ago so we are curious to know who she was and why she kept her past a secret. She was born in 1929 and we don’t even know if there is any info on her going back that far but it’s worth a try. So she lived in and around the Edinburge, McAllen and LaFord area can anyone tell me what these places are like? Are they dangerous and are these towns safe to travel to? Thanks in advance ….Lynn

Although statistics may show these cities as being dangerous, I’ve been to 8 out of the top 10 and never thought they seemed noticeably scary – never felt afraid to walk down the street alone. However, perhaps I should give that a second thought!?

And don’t forget these are crimes that were “reported” what about the ones that weren’t reported..that could change the results..ohh I’m from bellmead/ lacylakeview area..and its never seemed dangerous..I bought a house here..But people are throwed off here..and they ain’t scared..got heart for sure